@Meat Grinder: Your training schedule covers all 6 general body parts. That are, only for the ones not yet knowing this, shoulders, chest, abdominal muscles ((abs), legs, arms, back. You do a split training what means You concentrate on different body part(s) per day. If I see it right You train every part only one time per week. Only exception are the abs. Did I understand right You do all four days cardio training?
Yes, I do cardio and strength training all four days.
Assumed I understand all right I have questions:
- How well works Your schedule/training for You? Means what are the effects and what time they need?
Well, I just got back into it. This is week two. But, I already feel better. I've been into fitness before in my life. There were a few years (mid 1990s to early 2000s) that I was a fairly serious road bicyclist. Rode with a club and everything. Had a very nice road bike. Was able to do 50+ mile trips regularly, in the mountains. That was when I was almost certainly in the best "cardio shape" of my life. The only strength training I did during that time was pushups and situps. Then, sometime in the late 2000s, there was about a three year period that I really got into weight training with my nephew. I still did some cardio, but the weight training was definitely the main focus.
If you do cardio regularly, your endurance builds up rapidly. Google "couch to 5k", for a 9 week plan to get you from sedentary to being able to run a 5k. Same goes for strength training. If you lift regularly, and increase the weight in small increments each week, you will get stronger quickly.
- What work are You doing? Office work, manual labour, a mix of both or whatever?
I work in medical imaging, in a hospital. I would say a third of the time I am sitting, a third standing, and a third walking/pushing stretchers/pulling and pushing patients on and off the CT table. I don't own a pedometer (need to buy one), but I would estimate I typically walk at least two miles at work during a typical 12 hour shift. So, not nearly as sedentary as an office job, but neither am I doing construction work or digging ditches. ;-)
- How long You are training - means a) years of experience and b) per training session?
I already pretty much answered the first part of this question. As for how long per training session, I typically do 30 minutes of cardio, then go to the gym and do weight training for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. The gym I go to isn't very crowded, and since I usually go around 10am, I'm often the only one there, which makes things go quickly and I don't have to wait on machines, etc.
- When do You do the cardio - before, after or between the weight lifting?
I think the thing you want to focus on most is the thing you should do first. Right now I do the cardio first, followed by the strength training. Back when I was weightlifting with my nephew, it was strength first, then cardio.
- Do You do a warm-up, a cool-down, stretching?
Warm up for me is the cardio. I do very minimal stretching. I'll also typically do a warm up set on most exercises, with something like half the weight I will use for my final set. I tend to do three or four sets of eight reps for each exercise, adding weight between each set, so the final set is the heaviest.
- If that isn´t too nosey - What are Your exact exercises, sets, weights and so on?
Well, as I said earlier, I like to switch things up and not do the same exercises all the time. I'll tell you what my routine is right now, but it will likely change in a couple of months.
Day 1 - Barbell Squats (aka "the king of exercises") , Calf Raises (gym has a calf machine), Situps on the "slant board/situp bench"
Day 2 - Bench Press (gym has a Hammer Strength machine that I use for that, as I feel the barbell bench press is a dangerous exercise to do without a spotter), Dumbbell Pullovers, Rope Pull Downs
Day 3 - Deadlifts (if Barbell Squats are the king of exercises, Deadlifts are the Crown Prince, IMO), Seated Cable Rows, Seated Cable Pulldowns, Dumbbell Curls
Day 4 - Overhead Barbell Press, Shrugs, Lateral Dumbbell raises, Ab Machine, Core Machine (don't know what else to call it....you sit on it, grab the handles and twist your upper body side to side, lifting plates via a cable)
I highly recommend the book Starting Strength, Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe. "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general."
Found an old pic of me using the leg sled (alternative to barbell squat) back when I was working out with my nephew around 2010. No way I could do that much weight now, but I plan to build back up to it. Took me about a year to get to that point.